“This week, SmartRecruiters held its second annual users’ conference in its new footing as an Enterprise level platform play. With 400 clients in the audience, the firm unveiled its expanded functionality. Guess what? They’ve redefined the state of the art in Recruiting at the Enterprise level.” – John Sumser

SmartRecruiters began its existence as the brainchild of Jerome Ternynck. Long term industry players will recall that Jerome was the force behind Mr. Ted which, once sold to Stepstone, ultimately became the heart of Lumesse. As far as I know, he’s the first ATS founder to try to do it a second time.

For years, Jerome and his team labored in obscurity in a hard to find alley just south of Market St in the tech sector of San Francisco. The space was often used as a community hub with various grassroots networking events staged in the offices as a way of hardwiring the project into the community. It was four long years of research and development done in the shadow of Salesforce.com. The goal in those early days was to build a freemium business that was financed by cashflows from the marketplace.

It was solid grounding. Jerome is French. Mr. Ted was a French product. The global ATS market has its heart in the US. In order to do it a second time, Jerome needed to move to the US and acclimate. Things are different here and the nuances are subtle.

This week, SmartRecruiters held its second annual users’ conference in its new footing as an Enterprise level platform play. With 400 clients in the audience, the firm unveiled its expanded functionality. Guess what? They’ve redefined the state of the art in Recruiting at the Enterprise level.

They key is that they’ve built the ATS/CRM (Candidate Relationship Management) functionality in one database that serves the entire candidate lifecycle. Everywhere else you look, the two tools are separate entities. The CRM business evolved as an add-on to the recruiting process. None of the enterprise contenders can make this simple claim. As a result, records are incomplete, data isn’t transferred properly and things break a lot.

By integrating the two bits of functionality into one basket, SmartRecruiters opens a host of doors to innovation.

There’s an interesting set of undercurrents here.

The SmartRecruiters’ trajectory is going to open up the classic Best of Breed vs Suite conversation in a serious way. Recruiting solutions (or any HR silo for that matter) that come bundled as a part of a larger HR Suite rarely are functionally competitive with pure play single silo tools like SmartRecruiters. The rationale for buying a suite is often a question of pricing, data integration and implementation resources.

In our earlier research, we found that clients often purchased suite functionality as a way of minimizing risk. Testing out new ideas is something that requires careful shepherding and a slow path to commitment. That makes the suite look like a good bet.

And then, there are the bits and pieces that a best of breed solution offers that you simply can’t get from a business that isn’t focused clearly on a silo. Broad spectrum HR suites will be better at workforce analytics because of the data integration. They’ll never muster the subtleties of matching AI in the way that SmartRecruiters is embracing it.

While the Smartians (that’s what they call themselves, I swear) have indeed redefined excellence, the tool is better suited to bulk hiring than high end work currently. That’s smart and that’s where their current innovations will play the best. Over time, this will increasingly flesh out into a better overall recruiting tool for all purposes.

With 360 integrations, the SmartRecruiters marketplace looks like the largest in the space. If they can figure out how to untangle the potential here, SmartRecruiters could solve some of the data integration problems. Unfortunately, they are buying the Salesforce.com model lock, stock and barrel. APIs are open and not evolved as a part of the business development process. The Ultimate mode we reviewed last week is a far better approach.

On a final note, Rebecca Carr, who was at BranchOut and then Jobvite is the company’s VP of Product. She’s the kind of person that Silicon Valley is sometimes capable of producing…a focused product person who knows her stuff and understands how to evolve a development process. In a team of really powerful and polished enterprise players, she’s a standout.

In another ten years, people will be bitching about SmartRecruiters in the same way that they complain about Taleo today. That’s what happens when you figure out how to become the state of the art.

John Sumser

John Sumser is a principal analyst for HRExaminer, an independent analyst firm covering HR Technology and the intersection of people, tech, and work. John’s mix of experience over the course of his career gives him a broad and unique perspective on the industry. Like anyone trying to process a lot of information, he is two or three steps ahead in some areas and still learning about others.
Sumser’s work includes deep research into the nooks and crannies of HR Technology to identify and explain rapidly evolving trends. Built on a foundation of engineering, design, and philosophy, John’s seeks to understand and advise clients on where their technology works best, for whom, and in what context.
Each year, John examines the insides of hundreds of companies, their products, and ecosystems. He delivers vendor analysis by building the framework from which to deliver the critique. He is constantly connecting and making visible the front end of change. He can help you see the path of evolution and the risks on the journey.
The HRExaminer is Sumser’s vehicle for understanding and explaining the inner workings of the industry. With three weekly podcasts, and written commentary, he covers emerging ideas, the state of the industry, and the executives who operate it.

Hello, Mr. Sumser: I’m a retired Hospital Pharmacist and have experience as the
Director of Regulatory Affairs for the Metamucil Division of Searle Laboratories,

Phoenix, AZ I was also responsible for keeping the QA Laboratory operating

efficiently and maintaining unimpeachable records of reproducible test results. I designed and operated a Clinic Pharmacy in a Wisconsin city that benefited
from a symbiotic relationship with a University of Wisconsin four year campus
that employed many people from that city and those that surrounded it.

I appreciated your focus on the intersection of people and technology and the
very apt name “Two Color Hat”. As I look back, I was witness to the same as
members of the farming community embraced the University and their lives
benefited from technological advances.

I enjoyed your article and will be sharing it with my colleagues in health care who provide services to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.

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